I’ve been under the weather for a couple of weeks, so I’ve had a lot of time to sit around reading and watching TikToks. I can’t recall now what I was reading, but something jumped out at me, a term ...
Loss has many faces. I thought it was just my husband’s face—the man I love and miss so dearly. It turns out loss is so much more. It’s the faces of those who left to join him—in my case… my ...
Not all that long ago, I was told by a co-worker, in so many words, that my positivity is "too much" for him. "I don't need you to be so positive around me," he said. I was almost speechless for ...
After becoming widowed, I realized I was mourning a lot more than the death of my husband. I was mourning the other things that he and his mental illness took from me. Yes, my husband took a lot from me, ...
A few days ago, an acquaintance at church made small talk with me: “How’s life?” And I expected to feel all the normal rage that question elicits for us grievers. You know what I mean. We are the humans donning ...
The ache of compounded grief in widowhood is a particular kind of brutal. You thought you already did the hardest part. The early days—the raw, suffocating shock, the nights where breathing itself felt like betrayal, the way the world kept ...
Have you ever struggled to want to speak God’s truth with faith when the weight of your feelings from a situation you find yourself in scream to cry out in despair? Even strong believers and tested warriors can find themselves ...
Browsing one of my online support groups the other day, I saw the post. The one the new widow makes, where everything is fresh and brand new. We are able to articulate and write things out (I don't know how), ...
People still get taken aback when I tell them that my husband took his own life. I work in the hospitality industry, and people like to talk. They like to chit-chat and ask questions. When they get to the part ...
One of the first books about widowhood I read right after Rick’s death was The Year of Magical Thinking, by Joan Didion. I’ve always been an avid reader, so my natural response to anything is to search out a book ...